Vitamins are a well-known significant portion of a person""s diet. Their importance in nutrition has been known for many years. It is only relatively recently that their role in the body""s defense mechanism(s) against various insults, particularly oxidation reactions, has become more appreciated. Their role as a protecting antioxidant, particularly Vitamin E, is now becoming more understood. Vitamins in general have been broadly disclosed as optional ingredients in skin care and skin cleansing compositions. However, obtaining significant deposition of vitamins, particularly Vitamin E, upon human skin has been difficult so far. This may be due to the fact that the combination of solubilization to obtain a stable composition and thereafter depositing vitamins on the skin is potentially contradictory. Additionally it is thought that Vitamin E, per se, is unstable. Without appropriate skin deposition of the vitamin, it has not been altogether possible to measure such parameters as the endurance of deposited vitamins on skin, the value of deposited vitamins on skin with respect to the neutralization of oxidants on skin, and the deposition of vitamins from a topical skin composition, particularly a rinse off skin cleansing composition, in comparison to skin vitamin levels occurring from orally administered vitamins.
We have now found that a composition containing both Vitamin E and Vitamin E precursor, such as Vitamin E acetate, deposits relatively large quantities of Vitamin E on the skin and maintains significant quantities of Vitamin E on the skin for at least fifteen (15) hours and up to twenty four (24) hours, or even more, after rinsing off the composition. Additionally, the presence of Vitamin E through such skin deposition brings a lowering of lipid peroxide values when skin is exposed to an insult which results in the raising of lipid peroxide values, thus providing a benefit to the skin. Still further, the usage of topical application of vitamins, particularly Vitamin E, to the skin results in a significantly higher skin level of vitamins compared to the level of vitamin achieved by oral ingestion of such vitamin.
A topical composition suitable for application to skin comprising an antioxidant active amount of vitamin and vitamin precursor sufficient to bring about an effect selected from the group consisting of
a. a level of vitamin on the skin significantly above the amount of vitamin on vitamin untreated skin for a period of at least about fifteen hours after application of the said vitamin containing topical composition,
b. a reduction of lipid peroxide levels brought about by an insult to the skin wherein the skin is treated with the said vitamin containing composition prior to said insult,
c. a level of skin vitamin which is significantly above the level of skin vitamin brought about by oral ingestion of the vitamin, or
d. a combination of any of a, b, or c.
Various aspects within the invention scope are combination of the Vitamin E and Vitamin E precursor, particularly esters of Vitamin E such as the methyl ester, in the composition; the usage of a solid or liquid, including gel, composition which is a rinse off composition as opposed to a leave on composition, such as a lotion, cream or ointment; the combination of the inventive composition with an effective level of skin cleansing surfactant; the usage of quite low levels of vitamin and vitamin precursor to obtain the effects which are observed; the raising of lipid peroxide levels in skin through environmental insults such as exposure to ozone and other known oxidizers such as peroxides, for example cumene hydroperoxide, which can be at least partially overcome by effective levels of pre-deposited vitamin; obtaining a higher skin level of vitamin through topical deposition than occurs through oral ingestion of vitamin, said oral ingestion at a level which is thirteen times the recommended daily dietary vitamin dosage.
A further desirable effect of the invention is the composition further comprising a composition stabilizing effective amount of a cationic polymer.